Sunday, December 30, 2007

-Dilophosaurus was a theropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Period-the name is (pronounced /daɪˌlɒfəˈsɔrəs/ ("dy-LOH-fo-sawr-us") meaning 'two-crested lizard', because it had two crests (Greek di meaning 'two', lophos meaning 'crest' and sauros meaning 'lizard')-the first specimens were described in 1954, but it was not until a decade later that the genus received its current name- Dilophosaurus have appeared several times in popular culture, most prominently as the creature that eats Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park-the creatures have also appeared in novels such as Carnosaur and numerous video games; the interpretations of Dilophosaurus in these adaptations are usually erroneous

Friday, December 28, 2007

-Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus, pronounced /ˈθaɪləsaɪn/)was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times-native to Australia and New Guinea, it is thought to have become extinct in the 20th century-it is commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger (due to its striped back), the Tasmanian Wolf, and colloquially the Tassie(or Tazzy)Tiger or simply the Tiger-it was the last extanct member of its genus, Thylacinus, although a number of related species have been found in the fossil record dating back to the early Miocene

Thursday, December 27, 2007

-is a region of space i which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing can escape after having fallen past the event horizon-the name comes from the fact that even electromagnetic radiation (e.g. light) is unable to escape, rendering the interior invisible-black holes can be detected if they interact with matter outside the event horizon, for example by drawing in gas from an orbiting star-gas spirals inward, heating up to very high temperatures and emitting large amounts of radiation in the process

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Man-Eating Tree-Man-eating tree can refer to any of various legendary carnivorous plants that are large enough to kill and consume a person or other large animal-no such plant is known to exist, though a variety of unconfirmed reports have been recorded-presently, the carnivorous plant with the largest known traps is probably Nepenthes rajah, which produces pitchers up to 35 cm (14 inches) in height and will sometimes consume small mammals

Umbdhlebi-Umdhlebi is an unverified plant species purported to originate in Zululand, South Africa. It was first reported in the journal Nature on November 2, 1882 by Reverend G. W. Parker, a missionary in South Africa, who said the plant was poisonous.-according to Parker, Zulus sacrificed sheep and goats to the tree to calm the evil spirit -as of July 18, 2007, no specimen of the Umdhlebi has ever been recovered, and other than 19th century anecdotal evidence no further verification is known to exist-the Umdhlebi is described as having large, fragile green leaves, and two layers of bark - a dead outer layer that hung off the tree, and a new living layer that grew beneath it -the fruit of the tree was reported to be red and black, and to hang from branches like small poles

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

-from Latin unus 'one' and cornu 'horn'-is a legendary creature -the modern popular image of the unicorn is sometimes that of a horse differing only in the horn on its forehead-the traditional unicorn has a billy-goat beard, a lion's tail, and a cloven hooves - these distinguish it from a horse -Marianna Mayer has observed (The Unicorn and the Lake), "The unicorn is the only fabulous beast that does not seem to have been conceived out of human fears.In evens the earliest references he is fierce yet good, selfless yet solitary, but always mysteriously beautiful. He could be captured only by unfair means, and his single horn was said neutralize poison"

Monday, December 24, 2007

-aka gryffon or gryphon (from Old French grifon)-is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle -as the lion was traditonally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature-in atiquity it was a symbol of divine power and guardian of the divine

Sunday, December 23, 2007

-is a potential new species of carnivore recently discovered on the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo-first discovered by Swiss-based environmental group WWF in 2003, using a night-tie camera trap in Kayan Mentarang National Park -the mammal is slighly larger than a cat, with red fur, a long tail, and hind legs that are longer than front legs-its overall appeareance is something between a cat and a fox -in some ways it resembles the Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox)of Madagascar

Thursday, December 20, 2007

-sometimes called the Leeds Devil-is a legendary creature or said to inhabit the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey -the creatures is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many variations-there are many possible origins of the Jersey Devil legend, though it has no basis in Native American folklore, and is thought to be a creative manifestation of the English settlers-the aptly named Pine Barrens were shunned by most early settlers as a desolate, threatening place-being relatively isolated, the barrens were a natural refuge for those wanting to remain hidden, including religious dissenters, loyalists, fugitives and military deserters in colonial times. Such individuals formed solitary groups and were pejoratively called "pineys", some of whom became notorious bandits known as "pine robbers-pineys were further demonized after two early twentieth century eugenics studies depicted them as congenital idiots and criminals. It is easy to imagine early tales of terrible monsters arising from a combination of sightings of genuine animals such as bears, the activities of pineys, and fear of the barrens-outdoorsman and author Tom Brown Jr spent several seasons living in the wilderness of the Pine Barrens. He recounts occasions when terrified hikers mistook him for the Jersey Devil, after he covered his whole body with mud to repel mosquitoes-not surprisingly, the Jersey Devil legend is fueled by the various testimonials of those who believed to have encountered the creature, from precolonial times to the present day, as there are still reported sightings within the New Jersey area

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

-the name given to a being creature reported in the Charleston ant Point Pleasant areas of West Virginia between November 12, 1966, near Clendenin, and December, 1967-the creature was sporadically reported to be seen concurrent with those dates, with some sightings near Sewell Mt. as recent as September of 2007-most observe s describe the Mothman as a winged man-sized creature with large reflective red eyes and large moth-like wings-the creature often appeared to have no head, with its eyes set into its chest-a number of hypotheses have been presented to explain eyewitness accounts, ranging from misidentification and coincidence, to paranormal phenomena and conspiracy theories

Monday, December 17, 2007

-is a term used to describe patterns created by the flattening of crops such as wheat, barley, canola, rye, corn, linseed and soy-examples can be found world wide-various hypotheses have been offered to explain their formation, ranging from the naturalistic to the paranormal-Naturalistic explanations include man-made hoaxes or geological anomalies, while paranormal explanations include formation by UFOs-many circles are known to be man-made,such as those created by Doug Bower, Dave Chorley, and John Lundberg-and a 2000 study into circle hoaxing concluded that 80 percent of UK circles were definitely man-made-Bower and Chorley were awarded an igNobel Prize in 1992 for their crop circle hoaxing

Sunday, December 16, 2007

-is a flying cryptid-supposedly a giant bat or by other accounts, a living pterosaur-there is no objective evidence that it exists as claimed-it is not well documented, and little reliable information -and in this case, no material evidence-exists-named its for its distictive call A-hool (other sources render it ahOOO000l)-it is said to live in the deepest rainforests of Java-descibed as having a monkey/ape-like head with large dark eyes, large claws pn its forearms (approximately the size of infant), and a body covered in gray fur -the most intriguing and astounding feature is that it is said to have a wingspan of 3m (10ft)-almost twice as long as the largest (known) bat in the world. the common flying fox

Saturday, December 15, 2007

-the name given to a large creature reported to live in the lakes and swamps of the Congo River basin-the term "Mokèlé-mbèmbé" comes from the Lingala language-can be roughly translated as "one from stops the flow of rivers".(Clark, 261)-the creature's very existence and identification have long been debated between mainstream scientists, local Pygmies, creationists and cryptozoologists- Most controversially, it has been suggested that the creature might be a relictsauropod which somehow survived extinction-This idea has seen very little attention or support from scientists, who tend to argue that the creature can be best explained as some combination of fraud, folklore and misidentification of other animals-for more information, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mokele_mbembe

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

-is an American beast-is said to resemble a wolf, a hyena or both-the first discussion and description of this cryptid by Loren Coleman in his columns and articles throughout the 1980s, especially as formally recorded in Cryptozoology A to Z-it was reported from the Great Plains during pioneer days, by both white setllers and Native American tribes-the sightings have become much less common in th last century, causing most supporters to suggest the animal is now extinct-for more information, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunka_warakin

Saturday, December 08, 2007

-the name is given to a reputed lake monster living in Lake Champlain-authorities regard Champ as legend-state government of Vermont has put Champ on its Endangered Species List, so that if such an animal does exist, it would be protected by law-reportedly can be seen in a video taken by fishermen Dick Affolter and his stepson Pete Bodette in the summer of 2005-in the video, something appears under the water near the fisherman's boat-although two retired FBI forensic image analysts, who reviewed the tape, said it appears authentic and unmanipulated, one of them added that "there's no place in there that I can actually see an animal or any other object on the surface"-one piece of inconclusive data is the recording of what seems to be echolocation from within the lake by the Fauna Communications Research Institute in 2003, working as part of a Discovery Channel program-the group concluded that the sounds they recorded are similar to that of a Beluga Whale or perhaps an Orca, although no dolphin or whale species is known to live in the lake-for more information, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champ

Friday, December 07, 2007

-also known as Roswell aliens, Zetas and Reticulians-alleged aliens or extraterrestrial life forms that appear in modern UFO conspiracy theories and other UFO-related paranormal phenomena-said to be one of several species of aliens, greys make up approximately 75 percent of all aliens reported in the United States, 29 percent of all aliens reported in Continental Europe, and 12 percent of all aliens reported inGreat Britain-in American popular culture they have replaced little green men as the most typical extraterrestrials life form-for more information, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greys

-usually translated as "devil" or "spirit"- a mythicalcreature from Australianfolklore-various accounts and explanations of bunyips have been given across Australia since the early days of the colonies-it has also been identified as an animal recorded in Aboriginal mythology, similar to known extinct animals-descriptions of bunyips very wildly, it is usually given as a sort of lake monster, common features in Aboriginal drawings include a horse-like tail, flippers, and walrus-like tusks or horns-At night their blood-curdling cries can be heard as they devour any animal that ventures near their abodes-for more information, go to:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunyip

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

-is a term used in cryptozoology to describe as large, bird-like creatures, generally identified with the Thunderbird of Native American myth and folklore-similar cryptids reported in the Old World are often called Rocs-although Rocs are generally regarded as being eagles like the gigantic Haast eagle of New Zealand, which would have been dismissed as myth if it not for focils evidence, thunderbirds, on the other hand, are regarded by a small number of researchers as having lizard features like the pterosaurs and pteranodon-as most people assume these creatures did not survive from the time of dinosaurs, they are generally regarded by most people as mythological-for more information go to: Thunderbird (cryptozoology)

Sunday, December 02, 2007

-is an apelike cryptid said to inhabit the Himalaya region of Nepal and Tibet-the names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region-part of their history and mythology-Nepalese have various names for Yeti like "Bonmanche" which means "wild man" or "Kanchanjungarachyyas" which means "Kanchanjunga demon"-most mainstream scientists, explorers and writers consider current evidence of the Yeti's existence to be weak and better explained as hoax, legend or misidentification of known species-yet it remains one of the most famous creatures of cryptozoology-Yeti can be considered a Himalayan version of the Sasquatch or man-beast-for more information, go to:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeti